A New International Division of Labour – Adjustments in European Regions

Project Description:

The increasing international integration of labour markets can no longer be sufficiently described along industry sectors or skill categories based on educational achievements. Instead, technological innovations have provided the possibility to break up international production chains into individual tasks the content of which determines their tradability. The changing international division of labour gives rise to profound adjustment processes on European labour markets. Depending on their initial task specialisation, regions differ regarding their exposure to recent trends in globalisation. This poses new challenges to EU policies which aim at reducing regional disparities. Adopting a regional perspective, the project is the first investigation of regional exposure to globalisation and regional task distribution in Europe. It also identifies the effects of globalisation on regional employment outcomes using recent econometric methodologies.

Research Team:

  • Jun.-Prof. Dr. Melanie Arntz, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Department of Labour Markets, Human Resources and Social Policy
  • Dr. Jan Hogrefe, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Research Group Growth and Business Cycles
  • Bethlehem Asres Argaw,ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Department of Labour Markets, Human Resources and Social Policy
  • Terry Gregory, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Department of Labour Markets, Human Resources and Social Policy
  • Dr. Markus Kappler, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Research Group Growth and Business Cycles
  • Dr. Maresa Sprietsma, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Department of Labour Markets, Human Resources and Social Policy
  • Dr. Ulrich Zierahn, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Department of Labour Markets, Human Resources and Social Policy
  • Associate Professor David Dorn, CEMFI (CEMFI), Madrid, ES
  • Associate Professor Marc-Andreas Muendler, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, US